For On The Floor: Control Procedures With Standard Work

Standardized work is a lean-manufacturing strategy designed to establish agreed-upon procedures that govern key aspects of production. Also known as standard operating procedures (SOP), use of a standard work approach improves maintenance efforts in two ways by:

• ensuring that operators always follow the same procedures to run equipment, thereby reducing the chance for error and damage
• spelling out and illustrating exactly how to complete important equipment-care tasks for operators and maintenance teams.

Once created, approved, and followed regularly, standard work procedures inevitably streamline output.

A well-documented standard work program will include readily accessible notebooks that pair job descriptions with photos in an easy-to-read format, such as this example from Mississippi Lime. (For more information on this company’s standard work program, click here.)

Among this month’s Efficient Plant reader panelist respondents, experience with standard work varies. While all are familiar with the strategy, several said they have never used it. Here are selected comments from those who have:

Q: What is your experience with standard work?

“I have used standard work in multiple facilities. Currently, we use it in many areas. In production, it is used to define how the equipment is operated during different tasks and/or activities. In maintenance, PM and PdM tasks are the most prevalent use. We also use it to guide processes and practices. For example, we have documented processes that define what is and how to work with emergency and corrective work, preventive work, predictive work, and how to return certain types of equipment back to production service.”

… Sr. Maintenance Supervisor, Midwest

“My experience has been limited, but we currently use standard work on some very repetitive processes, such as die changeovers, heating-element change-outs, and others.”

… Sr. Facilities Engineer, South

“We only use it in a few applications for maintenance procedures.”

… Maintenance Mechanic, South

“I have experience capturing a commissioning-mechanic’s set-up of new packaging machinery on video, which we would then use as the benchmark, even though not all variables could be included. A major problem I encountered [at some companies] has been the independence that some mechanics feel they must display.

Often, each shift will have a mechanic with their own method they are proud of, causing set-up and product changeovers to vary and slowing production line start-up. I have also found that many machine installers do not provide an SOP.”

… Consultant, Canada

“I used standardized work when I was a project engineer in the food industry. In this case, it was mainly directed by an industry association, OSHA, and various health groups.”

… Former Chief Maintenance Engineer (now Trainer), West

“In my experience, use of standardized work is common at the best organizations.”

… Consultant, Midwest

“At a former employer of mine, standard work procedures had been implemented for certain maintenance and repair jobs. This improved the overall process and outcome of the completed work when the procedure was in place and followed. Our facility does not use standard work practices at this time, but I hope to convince key people here of the benefits.”

… PM Supervisor, Midwest

Q: How has standard work helped your operation?

“It provides consistency to the process and operations. It has established a structure so workers will know what was expected to occur, based on the actions and steps taken.”

… Sr. Maintenance Supervisor, Midwest

“It allows work to be measured and planned more accurately.”

… Sr. Facilities Engineer, South

“The rules we had were good, but it was difficult to keep everyone following them.”

… Former Chief Maintenance Engineer (now Trainer), West

“We have a planned outage at the same time annually, and have found that verbal instruction, based on experience from the previous year or longer, is inconsistent due either to gaps in memory or different personnel providing the knowledge. The use of written work procedures helps pass on knowledge to new employees without having to rely on the memory, and it provides a great refresher for experienced workers.”

… Maintenance Mechanic, South

“Standard work creates a discipline that, once adopted, helps cost-and-time reduction.”

… Consultant, Midwest

Q: What experience have you had creating standard work procedures for your operation?

“It has depended on the type of equipment or process you are trying to standardize, plus the resource allocation. We are currently working on standardizing the requirements of what is needed to be populated within our CMMS work orders from initial request notification all the way to completion and closing of the work order. This has taken about eight weeks on top of normal responsibilities. It was a collaborative effort to make sure everything is covered.”

… Sr. Maintenance Supervisor, Midwest

“The biggest challenge is getting everyone to agree on the steps. Like cooks, everyone has their personal taste and they don’t necessarily want to follow the recipe.”

… Sr. Facilities Engineer, South

“The process is very tedious and time-consuming on the front end, especially if you are including needed tools and details like the torque specifications of fasteners, for example. It is absolutely necessary to have at least one other qualified person check the procedure. One small error can have costly and dangerous consequences.”

… Maintenance Mechanic, South

“At a petrochemical facility, I was able to involve people in creating standard work after a period of training. It took them about four months to standardize PMs that had been very vague. Now, they come as a work order with specifications and detailed, step-by-step guides, which has drastically reduced corrective maintenance.”

… Consultant, Midwest

Q: What advice do you have for those considering implementing standard work?

“Once the decision is made to start using standard-work practices, make sure the information is specific, not generic. For example, in a PM work practice, do not state ‘Lube as necessary.’ Provide qualifications around when something should be lubed and to what quantity or specification. Information that is too vague leaves it up to interpretation and variation.”

… Sr. Maintenance Supervisor, Midwest

“Go slow, it can’t be rushed.”

… Sr. Facilities Engineer, South

“Involve several people and reevaluate the procedures periodically. We have found ways to improve our procedures many times, and it’s important to change the standard to include the improvements and not revert to experience or memory.”

… Maintenance Mechanic, South

“List the tasks from the most complex to the simplest, and start by asking your maintenance and operations people to write the standards in their own words, based on their experience. Most CMMS programs allow photos to be inserted at each step. It is also important that planners participate and make sure to provide tools and parts required at the time of the scheduled task.”

… Consultant, Midwest